BILATERAL TALKS WITH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Pressure on Dhaka to take back irregular migrants

The issue regarding bringing back ‘irregular Bangladeshi migrants’ has nowadays become a common topic during bilateral talks between Bangladesh and European countries as well as the European Union, a bloc of 28 countries of Europe. “We don’t call them illegal immigrants. We call them irregular migrants who do not have necessary papers to live in certain countries,” a senior government official told The Independent.
“During our talks with European countries and the EU, it has become a common issue,” he said. According to government officials, the issue of irregular migration has become prominent against the backdrop of the rise of right wing parties in Europe and the migration crisis there.
“The election of Donald Trump and his subsequent executive order banning people from seven Muslim countries on entering the United States has made things even worse,” said another official. Some countries are asking Bangladesh to take back few irregular Bangladeshis to show that the process is on, said the officials, adding that Bangladesh has agreed in principle to bring back some Bangladeshis in this year after completing the verification of their citizenship.
For instance, they said that in Germany there are 5,000 to 7,000 Bangladeshis living without valid documents and Berlin has requested Dhaka to at least take some of them to show that
things are moving. “We are thinking of bringing about one hundred such Bangladeshis in next one year after, of course, verifying their nationalities,” said an official.
The officials also said that this issue is likely to feature at Foreign Secretary-level consultation with the EU in Brussels on Wednesday.
Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque will lead the Bangladesh delegation to the first ever consultation at this level. A managing director of EU’s European External Action Service will head the EU team.
All the aspects of bilateral relationship will be discussed during the consultations, said the officials.
“We don’t term it illegal migration, rather we call it migration management. Yes, this issue will be discussed,” said a senior official while replying to a question.
 “The position of Bangladesh is clear. We don’t want our nationals to live in any country witshout valid documents and we bring back our nationals after the verification of their nationalities,” he said.
According to the sources, the European countries and EU have long been advocating with Bangladesh to take back its nationals living in different countries.
Bangladesh, however, is in favour of regularising those irregular migrants to resolve the issue, they said. But, the European countries disagree with this notion. They say that it does not solve the problem, rather it invites new irregular migrants. There was even suggestion of financial incentive for those irregular migrants willing to return home, said the sources.

BILATERAL TALKS WITH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Pressure on Dhaka to take back irregular migrants

The issue regarding bringing back irregular Bangladeshi migrants has nowadays become a common topic during bilateral talks between Bangladesh and European countries as well as the European Union, a bloc of 28 countries of Europe. We dont call them illegal immigrants. We call them irregular migrants who do not have necessary papers to live in certain countries, a senior government official told The Independent. During our talks with European countries and the EU, it has become a common issue, he said. According to government officials, the issue of irregular migration has become prominent against the backdrop of the rise of right wing parties in Europe and the migration crisis there. The election of Donald Trump and his subsequent executive order banning people from seven Muslim countries on entering the United States has made things even worse, said another official. Some countries are asking Bangladesh to take back few irregular Bangladeshis to show that the process is on, said the officials, adding that Bangladesh has agreed in principle to bring back some Bangladeshis in this year after completing the verification of their citizenship. For instance, they said that in Germany there are 5,000 to 7,000 Bangladeshis living without valid documents and Berlin has requested Dhaka to at least take some of them to show that things are moving. We are thinking of bringing about one hundred such Bangladeshis in next one year after, of course, verifying their nationalities, said an official. The officials also said that this issue is likely to feature at Foreign Secretary-level consultation with the EU in Brussels on Wednesday. Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque will lead the Bangladesh delegation to the first ever consultation at this level. A managing director of EUs European External Action Service will head the EU team. All the aspects of bilateral relationship will be discussed during the consultations, said the officials. We dont term it illegal migration, rather we call it migration management. Yes, this issue will be discussed, said a senior official while replying to a question. The position of Bangladesh is clear. We dont want our nationals to live in any country witshout valid documents and we bring back our nationals after the verification of their nationalities, he said. According to the sources, the European countries and EU have long been advocating with Bangladesh to take back its nationals living in different countries. Bangladesh, however, is in favour of regularising those irregular migrants to resolve the issue, they said. But, the European countries disagree with this notion. They say that it does not solve the problem, rather it invites new irregular migrants. There was even suggestion of financial incentive for those irregular migrants willing to return home, said the sources.